Wednesday, 1 March 2017

“In some situations you have to mix vocals or spoken word very quickly — typically in broadcast operations or video productions. We couldn’t find any plug-in that suited this purpose perfectly, so I had to write one myself.” - TNT Recording and Postproduction Studios owner Tomáš Trkal, 2017 Host application and audio effects developer Audified is proud to announce availability of TNT Voice Executor — a unique utilitarian plug-in offering no-nonsense processing of vocal and spoken word tracks to sophisticatedly solve any issues instantaneously.

By their very nature, human voices are complex mechanisms; marvellously, we can recognise individuals from their vocalisations — be that spoken word or otherwise. Obviously we all sound different, so it stands to reason, therefore, that when recording and broadcasting vocals or spoken word we need to treat them differently by appropriately applying effects to suit individual voices to get them sounding perfect. Problem is, though, that takes time and effort. And in today’s time-stressed production climate that’s a luxury many of us no longer enjoy — exactly the dilemma faced by TNT Recording and Postproduction Studios owner Tomáš Trkal. Unlike most mix engineers, however, as a software programmer he had the talent to do something about it. Well, wouldn’t you do something similar if what you wanted didn’t commercially exist? Enter TNT Voice Executor, a unique utilitarian plug-in named after that studio, offering no-nonsense processing of vocal and spoken word tracks to sophisticatedly solve any issues instantaneously. While we all, ultimately, have Tomáš Trkal to thank for TNT Voice Executor, it’s timely arrival as Audified’s latest product took a little time and effort on its instigator’s part, of course. “Often clients want to have the final mix of a song right after recording, which is unrealistic in most cases, so I was in need of something that I could apply to recorded raw vocal tracks, set one parameter, bounce the song, and give it to the client within minutes,” he explains. “I programmed something suitable and started using it, but when I started studying software programming at Brno University of Technology my teacher put me in contact with Audified CEO Lubor Prikryl. When I demonstrated my plug-in for him, he was so impressed that Audified decided to release it for all major formats, adding some professional standard features, such as metering and calibration to move the product forward.”

TNT Voice Executor by Audified’s informative introductory video

Fortunately for the rest of us, thanks to this fortuitous meeting of minds, TNT Voice Executor effortlessly does what it says on the tin. No questions necessary. Needless to say, the finished product is unquestionably easy on the eye, yet there are actually multiple effect modules making this time-saving tool equally easy on the ear. EQ, DRIVE, and DELAY are all present and accounted for alongside complete dynamics controls. Continues its instigator: “The plug-in consists of eight processing modules — noise gate [GATE]; high-pass filter; compressor [COMP], with up to three active instances of compressor with different settings in one module; 4-band parametric [EQ]; distortion [DIST]; stereo image enhancer [STEREO]; DELAY; and limiter [LIMIT] — that I typically use when mixing vocals. I’ve treated those modules very carefully, preparing lots of super-usable presets in collaboration with Audified Sound Designer Jarek Musil to satisfy the user’s needs. In short, this plug-in is designed to get a great sound as quickly as possible.”

Put simply: getting a great sound with TNT Voice Executor couldn’t be simpler. Simply select a preset then use the three knobs to set the INPUT and OUTPUT volumes (using the I/O meters), tweak the DRIVE (effect) amount, and you’re good to go! Gathered into four groups, each preset contains several variants for both male and female voices. The right-side of the plug-in’s crystal-clear GUI (Graphical User Interface) simply shows which effects are engaged and how much gain is being reduced. Really, it’s as simple as that. No other controls are available (apart from some advanced calibration settings ‘hidden’ in the service menu). Might you need TNT Voice Executor, then? The answer to that quick question is simple: if you’ve got a microphone and record vocals and/ or spoken word then you’ll find it invaluable. Applications include editing audio books, v-log posts, YouTube videos, podcasts, advertisement voiceovers, television trailers, newscasts... the list goes on. Put it this way: wherever the human voice sounds, TNT Voice Executor makes it sound better in next to no time with a no-nonsense approach to processing par excellence.TNT Voice Executor is available to purchase as an iLok-protected plug-in — running as an AAX, VST3, and VST2 plug-in on Mac (OS X 10.9 - 10.12) and PC (Windows 7, 8, and 10) and AU on Mac — at an introductory price of $49.00 USD until March 19, 2017 (rising thereafter to $69.00 USD) from Audified’s online shop here: https://shop.audified.com/products/tnt-voice-executor

TNT Voice Executor is available to download directly from Audified from here: http://services.audified.com/download- Please note that iLok dongle hardware is not needed for either the 30-day trial or full version of TNT Voice Executor — simply create a free account and install PACE Anti-Piracy’s iLok License Manager from here: https://www.ilok.com

Audified is the premier brand of privately-owned Boskovice-based DISK Multimedia, s.r.o. in the Czech Republic, created to develop specialised audio applications, as well as handling the company’s high-end hardware product portfolio. Pioneering the development of audio applications for live (realtime) performance, as well as developing the first audio effects plug-ins for Apple’s Mac OS X, the company created some of the first plug-ins for Power|Core,TC Electronic’s hardware-accelerated DSP platform, prompting the Danish developer’s then-PR Manager Thomas Valter to comment, “Our two companies have been working closely together on various projects, and we are very satisfied with the products that have been a result of our cooperation.” Consequently, the company returned to its host application and audio effects developmental roots in 2007 by branding itself with the Audiffex appellation to resourcefully reflect that directional change with an award-winning array of innovations, including MixChecker — a must-have mixing assistant plug-in that transforms studio monitors into classic reference monitors or one of several consumer devices to instantly improve mixes. Moreover, Audified is not just a for-profit business, however; its parental company clearly cares about the future of audio software/hardware development, developing partnerships with both Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, Czech Republic — realising a research project to bring modern audio engineering technologies to music education, and also Brno University of Technology, one of the Czech Republic’s leading research and teaching institutions — working with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication Technologies on scientific projects. Participating in organising entry exams and teaching at these highly-respected higher education establishments has helped establish the first specialised studies of audio engineering in the Czech Republic. In keeping with spreading the (audio engineering) word, Audified has helpfully seen fit to recently release a range of free plug-ins, available from here: http://shop.audified.com/collections/products/free#tags